My newest-old favorite piece of furniture.

I came across this $75 solid oak church pew at Heritage Square Antique Mall. (My friend Polly and a friend of hers have a booth there called Motley Junket, B002, and she has a booth at The Old Shoe Factory in Lancaster called Sassafraas Stuff, and she has the cutest blog, www.sassafrasstuff.blogspot.com.) (I was looking for a piece of furniture to re purpose as a double sink vanity for our main bathroom.) On a previous trip there I found a large court house bench that got my mind thinking (scary, I know!). I have wanted to build (I mean, have built) a bench seat w/storage under our dining room bay window ever since we moved in 3 years ago. For extra seating because we never seem to have enough w/guests over. And more storage of course! I mean, really, who truly ever has enough of it? So when I saw the court house bench, I thought that it was the answer to the bench seat dilema. However, it was too long and too tall. So, I went back again, but armed with measurements and a tape measure! After walking the entire mall in almost 2 hours, I found 2 nearly identical church pews at 2 different booths. They had the PERFECT measurements! That was on a Tuesday. The following Saturday I was on my way to buy it when I ran into a guy I went to high school with. He told me not to buy it yet because he might be able to get me one for free. His brother-in-law purchased a church and was gutting it. It turns out he was in Hawaii on vacation and hasn't returned any calls. I told Matt I would give it a week before going back to buy my church pew :) Today was 1 week and 2 days. It was still there. Now it's home with me. It has some flaws. One side was coming apart so there is an extra piece of wood screwed to it to strengthen it. The middle support leg is gone (doesn't seem to be an issue at the moment--unless it has something to do with the other previously mentioned problem), and very worn. However, it still has both of its shelves for hymnals (on the back) and several pieces of gum stuck to the bottom! Ok, that grossed me out, but I think it helped to authenticate the pew. I had planned to paint it white, but now that it's in the kitchen, I may try to restore it to match the oak window and oak table and chairs. I will aslo be researching different costs and types of storage bins to put under the pews. They WILL be on wheels.











Now I have a new problem. My current oak table is oblong and not long enough. So, I will be researching ways to elongate this table, or make one myself (No, really. I saw it on DIY.), or buy another treasured piece for another great deal.












I am just beside myself with this find :) It looks a little bit like a restaurant, don't you think? Hmmmmm